I’ve read several books in the Objectivists library, including Atlas shrugged, the fountainhead, and the virtue of selfishness.
For a certain kind of person, I do think they have value in showing a different ethical/moral framework. To wit, if you have been raised on the principal that you must always sacrifice your own happiness for others, then Onjectivist philosophy is quite novel and can actually be helpful in moving towards a more self-actualized thought mode.
For most others, however, it can turn you into a raging a-hole.
In terms of how tenable the overall principles are in practice, just remember that Rand herself went on social security.
I really like this take.
I think about those who like American Psycho or Breaking Bad, and even see themselves as those characters, unaware that those characters were assholes and emulating them makes you a bad person.
Where others see how f’d up the system is and these two are pushing the limits of what’s acceptable.
I mean, are there people who see themselves as Patrick Bateman? Walter white is a bit of a stretch too, but Bateman.
I commend you for posting this meme in the correct order. A lot of times I see this posted with the frames reversed so it looks like taking off the glasses is what lets you see the craziness.
“A lot of times” this is posted by children that have never seen They Live and don’t know what it is to be all outta bubblegum.
I feel dumb because I read this book only because of BioShock, and a and was like, “pretty neat.” I didn’t really think too much about it after that. So I love when I read about people’s critiques of it!
Ayn Rand was the villain all along?
Ayn Rand was the villain of her own novels, ho died on welfare.
I’m a fan of yours, Flying Squid - I like your comments and posts.
And this meme is so very true. If I may quote someone named “John Rogers”, who I don’t know very well, but can find his words by searching “ayn rand lord of the rings orcs”, here is something that I think others might find meaningful:
There are two novels that can change a bookish fourteen-year old’s life: The Lord of the Rings and Atlas Shrugged. One is a childish fantasy that often engenders a lifelong obsession with its unbelievable heroes, leading to an emotionally stunted, socially crippled adulthood, unable to deal with the real world. The other, of course, involves orcs.
Thanks! That’s very kind of you. And yes, I love that quote. Also, this comic:
I’m neurodivergent and fell for this shit hard. It’s actually pretty embarrassing to look back on. Luckily, I got better
This is good. Many people fall into this trap and never realize they’re trapped; they’re convinced it’s everyone else that’s trapped
There’s only one thing American libertarians hate more than poor people. And it’s actual libertarians.
“No true Scotsman, REEEE!” motherfuckers when I deny the legitimacy of Scotland itself 😎
My favorite part was Ayn Rand’s last years of her life was getting government handouts.
There’s a tech recruiting company called “John Gault Staffing.” I don’t know if they’re run by Libertarians or it’s just an unfortunate name conflict, but whenever they contact me, I respond with an email saying that I won’t do business with them.
If I had that name, I’d change it. “I just don’t know why little Adolf is having trouble with his classmates.”
If it’s ‘Gault,’ it’s probably coincidental. If it’s Galt, almost certainly Randroids.
so basically you’re asking “Who is John Gault?”
It’s like the companies calling themselves Skynet.
I have a relative who was named Adolph (with that spelling) immediately before the rise of Hitler. I think he kept it on the, “Why should I change my name? He’s the one who sucks,” logic, but I’m not sure.
I read The Fountainhead instead, and it was interesting enough to keep me reading. “Okay, there’s a lot of setup of characters and circumstances going on, I am curious to know how this plays out,” and then it just … doesn’t. It was all a lead-up to a long, weakly written, and plainly stupid monologue about how completely ruthless all people should be at all times, only ever thinking in the shortest term about themselves.
I closed that book wondering why Ayn Rand was famous for anything beyond being a shitbag, when I was young enough to be kind of a shitbag myself.
But there is the rape scene which Rand thought to paint in a positive light to read about.
Wtf is going on with his hand? Is this an AI image or something?
If you mean “Rowdy” Roddy Piper, it’s all muscle.
To be fair it’s a universal truth that artists hate drawing hands lol
Galt’s Gulch was much more Socialist Commune than libertarian.
Money had no use as Ragnar was running around distributing gold to everyone on a regular basis, John Galt had built a literal free energy machine and was giving the power away AND giving vanishingly cheap lectures on how to build one. Even the scarce resources (like the only car in the entire society) were being rented out for 50 cents a day.
Plus all these fiercely competitive supercapitalists would just step aside and just allow competitors to operate with no challenge. The iron mine, and coal mine were all running at industrial scales to serve a town of a few hundred (they had robot labour and free energy) and when the copper miner just showed up they just let him stake a an exclusive claim and start digging with no issue.
I highly recommend Adam Lee’s critical readthrough on patheos.com https://www.patheos.com/blogs/daylightatheism/series/atlas-shrugged/
I just like that step one of Rand’s utopia is violating the laws of physics. It can’t work if energy is scarce, so her solution is magic.
Ugh… Embarrassing memories of having read Atlas Shrugged when I was 17 and thinking it was deep…
Francisco D’Anconia was kind of inspiring with his, “I can do that,” attitude but the strawman caricature of bad guv’mint was comical.
There is a very true Tumblr post that goes “it’s really annoying, because “Atlas Shrugged” is such a raw title. The titan that holds up the world on his shoulders decides “no, fuck this shit” and shrugs. For it to be wasted on a book that’s just “I hate poor people, actually.” Is a travesty”
“Everyone on this train deserves to die”
